LG has been using LCDs on their smartphones for quite some time now. They're not bad, but one of the main complaints I frequently see posted online about the G6 or V20 is that they're not AMOLED like Samsung's gorgeous panels. However, LG has just revealed that its upcoming V30 phablet will sport an OLED display, the company's first since the G Flex2 from 2015.

Quite a few details were dropped on the "next flagship smartphone from LG Electronics," which will obviously be the V30. It'll have plastic OLED (or P-OLED) tech, which features pixels on a plastic substrate and is apparently much stronger than glass. Don't worry, though; the display will still be topped with Corning Gorilla Glass 5. It will be capable of reproducing "perfet [sic] black and white colors with greater accuracy across a wider color spectrum." LG says that the P-OLED display will deliver 148% of the sRGB color space for images and 108% of the DCI-P3 space for cinema, which is pretty impressive.

Also noted is OLED's advantage of accelerated response time, which makes it better for things such as VR. Interestingly, burn-in will reportedly be eliminated thanks to "advanced encapsulation and pixel-scanning technology." Considering that this is Samsung's main weakness with AMOLED, this could be a game-changer if true.

LG's last P-OLED smartphone, the G Flex2.

The display will measure in at 6.0" with an 18:9 ratio, and it'll feature curved edges, a la Samsung's edge smartphones. An image was even provided of the front, which reveals some extremely small bezels. LG states that the upper and lower bezels have been reduced by 20% and 50%, respectively, compared to the V20's, and that the LG logo has even been moved to the back because of this. It's nice to see phones without logos on the front becoming more and more prevalent. The 6.0" V30 will reportedly have a smaller footprint than the 5.7" V20, but it's worth noting that the V30's display may not be much bigger, if at all, than the V20's, thanks to its 18:9 (or 2:1) screen ratio.

So, as a recap: the V30 will have a 6.0" 1440p P-OLED display with an 18:9 aspect ratio, curved edges, tiny bezels, and Gorilla Glass 5 on top. If the rest of the phone sounds as good as the display specs, LG may have a winner on its hands.

Press Release

NEXT MAJOR SMARTPHONE FROM LG TO FEATURE FIRST-EVER OLED FULLVISION DISPLAY

SEOUL, Aug. 3, 2017 — The next flagship smartphone from LG Electronics (LG) will be the first ever device to feature a plastic OLED FullVision display, consistent with the company’s smartphone display strategy that started with the LG G6 and continues with the LG Q6. As LG’s first OLED smartphone since the LG G Flex 2 in 2015, the shift marks a move by LG to extend its OLED leadership from the premium TV sector into the premium smartphone space. Beyond their slim profile and excellent visuals, OLED displays in smartphones are ideal for VR applications, one of the key growth areas in the smartphone industry.

“Expertise in OLED has long been a core competency of LG, and the technology has always been seen as a potential value-add for smartphones,” said Juno Cho, president of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. “With competition in the global smartphone space fiercer now than ever, we felt that this was the right time to reintroduce OLED displays in our mobile products.”

With consumers seeking bigger displays but eschewing larger phones that are uncomfortable to hold in one hand, LG’s FullVision display is a key contributor in the trend toward minimized bezels in smartphones. OLED was simply the next evolution for FullVision displays, delivering incredible quality, vividness and clarity to smartphone visuals. At six inches, the OLED FullVision display will be LG’s largest in four years while the actual body will be smaller than last year’s LG V20. As the upper and lower bezels have been reduced by 20 and 50 percent when compared to the V20, the LG logo has been moved from the bottom of the display to the back of the phone to maximize viewable screen space.

The FullVision display’s immersive and expansive visual experience is enhanced on the 4.15 million pixels of the QHD+ (1440 x 2880) OLED screen. Superb image quality is achieved via emissive OLED technology which reproduces perfet black and colors with greater accuracy across a wider color spectrum. By implementing optimal image algorithms gleaned from years of OLED research and development, visuals on this OLED display deliver 148 percent of the sRGB 1 color space for digital images and 109 percent of the DCI-P3 2 color space for digital cinema. Another intrinsic advantage of OLED technology is operational response time, which is tens of times faster than LCD. This accelerated response time effectively eliminates afterimages, an important consideration for action movies and VR. And with support for HDR10, watching compatible movies and videos on this display offers a whole new eye-opening experience.

And because the screen in the upcoming smartphone will be based on plastic OLED technology – also known as P-OLED – the edges can be curved to allow for a more ergonomic design and a better feel in the hand. P-OLED is created by placing pixels on a plastic substrate which is much stronger than a glass base. What’s more, the display is protected by Corning® Gorilla® Glass 5 that incorporates shatter-resistant technology. Most importantly, using advanced encapsulation and pixel-scanning technology, the burn-in problem that has affected OLED technology in the past has been all but eliminated in the P-OLED technology in LG’s upcoming device. Encapsulation significantly reduces oxidation of the pixels and LG’s pixel-scanning technology allows for less energy to be applied to each pixel, also saving battery power.

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1 sRGB is the color space created by HP and Microsoft for use as a reference standard on monitors, printers and the internet since 1996.

2 DCI-P3 is a color space proposed by the Digital Cinema Initiative (DCI), a group led by major Hollywood movie studios, mainly used as a standard for measuring the richness and accuracy of color expressed in movies.